A couple of weeks ago, we headed to Chicago so that I could attend the Out Of Chicago event. After being delayed by bad weather, we arrived several hours later than expected. The following day we walked to the University of Chicago campus at Hyde Park. Along the way, we passed a dead tree that had been made into a work of public art.
Tree As Art, Hyde Park
At the University is the “Campus North Commons” building. This is a hall of residence that was designed by the architect Jeanne Gang.
Campus North Commons
Here is another view of the building.
Campus North Commons, No 2
We also stopped by “Robie House”. This home that was designed by the renown architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The house was closed and is undergoing renovation.
Robie House
Here is another view of Robie House.
Robie House, No 2
Across the road is another campus building. Here I made an image of the window with a reflection of Angela exploring the surrounding area.
Angela, Reflected, University Of Chicago
I backtracked to a location near a book store that we stopped by earlier. Along the way, I found the patio with colorful furniture.
Patio Color, University Of Chicago
Here is the mural in the alley that we passed earlier.
Alley Mural, Minds Open
On the facing wall was a picture of a panda bear. I capture the mural with a window that reflected the bear.
Mural And Panda Bear Reflection
I noticed this broken light hanging from the edge of the roof. The yellow against the green background caught my eye.
Broken Light, Hyde Park
Later we decided to head towards the center of Hyde Park by bus. We got onto the “2” bus, but failed to get off at the correct stop. So we had no option but to ride the bus all the way near downtown. We got off at the “Shedd Aquarium”, where we took a break along the lake shore. Here I made an image of the Downtown Chicago skyline.
Chicago Skyline From Shedd Aquarium
We spent a couple of hours here before returning to Hyde Park for dinner.
Yesterday, while making images of the wrens, the House Finches were busy in our backyard. I made several images while waiting for the wrens to return to the nesting box.
Earlier this year, I made several nesting boxes and located them around the house. Black-Capped Chickadees nested in one of the boxes. Last week, the little ones fledged and the Chickadees moved out. Meanwhile, a pair of House Wrens occupied another box, where they are currently feeding baby wrens in the box. Today, I made some images of the wrens attending to their young.
House Wren With Insect At Nesting Box
The wrens made several trips feeding insects to their young in the box. Here is another image of the wren hanging from the outside of the box.
House Wren Outside Nesting Box
I managed to capture this wren, with insect, while it was perched in a nearby maple tree.
House Wren With Insect In Tree
I managed to capture some images with the wrens peering out of the nesting box.
House Wren Peering Out Of Nesting Box
Here the wren looks it is watching the babies.
House Wren Inside Nest Box
The parent wrens have to clear away trash and poop from the box. Here we see one of the parents with a piece of poop being removed. The other parent is behind the poop remover.
House Wren Clearing Poop From Nesting Box
I also made some images of House Finches… stay tuned!
Yesterday, we headed down to the Art Students League of Denver in the late afternoon to enjoy the Summer Arts Market. After the market closed for the day, we wandered back along the streets to the car. Passing the Rosebud Cafe, I made this image of the textured brickwork with the geranium plant.
Rosebud Cafe, Walls And Geranium
Adjacent the this plant were the empty table and chairs.
Rosebud Cafe, Table and Chairs
Further down the street, we passed by Waffle Brothers.
Waffles, 90 Washington
Outside, on the sidewalk, these red chairs were waiting for someone…
This weekend was the annual Chalk Arts Festival, in Downtown Denver, on Larimer and 14th. We headed downtown during the late afternoon, after the heat of the day. As usual, there were many artists creating artwork on the street. Here is one of the featured artists.
A Featured Artist
It is hard work creating this artwork, especially on a hot sunny day. Sometimes a reclining posture is required…
Reclining Artist
Colorful boxes of pastels were found everywhere.
Box Of Pastels
Inked up…
Inked Up Respect
These three ladies were working together on this image.
Three Ladies In Pink
The ladies were referring back to their reference image.
Studying The Assignment
Two ladies were working on this picture of a blue flower.
Blue Flower And Chalk
I noticed one lady’s red toe nails…
Blue Feet
And made this image of her toe nails with blue soled feet.
Red Toe Nails And Blue Soles
At the adjacent position, I made this image as the artist was reaching for the next pastel.
Reaching For The Pastel
This artist had all her pastels arrayed out in boxes.
For the last few weeks, we have had a family of geese nesting on the roof of the adjacent annex building. This is the second year that this pair nested on the roof. “Lucy”, as Leila and Colleen named her, has been sitting on 6 eggs for the last 4 weeks. Yesterday, 5 babies hatchlings emerged from the eggs. Today, the babies were walking around the roof.
“Lucy” And Babies
During the course of the day, several co-workers came visiting to view the geese from our “Grandstand”.
Leila
Here is Colleen, looking out for Lucy’s babies!
Colleen And Becky
A storm passed through during the middle of the day. At about 2pm, DPC Staff and Colleen led the rescue party to help the geese. We had a similar experience last year with Lucy, because the goslings were too small to get off the roof; they had to be rescued last year. By Colleen and Leila at the weekend.
Colleen, Leading The Rescue Party
Father Goose was not pleased. Here he was hissing at the rescue party.
Dad Was Not Pleased
The babies were gathered up in a box and lowered from the roof. DPC Staff were on hand to help with releasing the goslings.
Releasing The Babies
The geese set off to head towards water. Liz helped the smallest gosling, who was lagging behind the others.
Strutting Down The Path
Passing me, the Dad hissed at me.
Dad Hissing At Me!
Here is Liz, with the baby goose!
Liz, With Baby
While the rest of the family headed towards the pond across the road.
Strutting Down To The Pond
Colleen led the geese to the pond. We stopped the traffic to ensure these day old geese safely made it to water.
Colleen, Leading The Geese To Water
Finally, the geese reached the safety of water.
Safe At Last, Thank You
We are sure that they gave us a reluctant “Thank You”.
In late September early October 2017, there were several days of heavy rainfall that caused extensive flooding in Eastern and South Eastern Iceland. Driving back from Egilstaðir to Saeberg, I passed by the Jökuldalur River. While making images of the river,they did not really give justice to the angry flood waters, so I captured some video clips. Recently, I completed this short video.
